Second Home Loans in Murrells Inlet, SC: Georgetown or Horry County, Marsh and Creek Lots and the 6% Tax Rate

The Fourth of July boat parade, founded in 1983, runs decorated boats down the inlet to the MarshWalk, according to the Post and Courier's coverage of the parade. The boardwalk is on the Georgetown County side of the village, and the Horry County line runs along its northern edge. Wikipedia's entry on Murrells Inlet describes it as an unincorporated Georgetown County community, yet ZIP 29576 reaches into both counties. So a Murrells Inlet mailing address can belong to a home on a creek in Georgetown County or to a home just across the line in Horry County.

A second home on the inlet can be financed with a conventional loan and as little as 10% down when it is for your own use and stays under your control. I'm Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943, a mortgage broker licensed in South Carolina through C2 Financial Corporation, and I have been in the mortgage business since 1996. I work from Bluffton, down the coast.

My Murrells Inlet page tells the village story, from the MarshWalk to the Hot and Hot Fish Club. My Myrtle Beach area page covers the rest of the Grand Strand, and the South Carolina page explains attorney closings. This page is for a client who plans to keep a home on the inlet for part of the year and wants to finance it as the second home it is.

The county comes before the price

Georgetown County and Horry County have the same conforming loan limit for 2026, $832,750 for a one-unit home, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's limit table. The conforming limit is the largest loan Fannie Mae will buy. So the county does not change which kind of loan you are in. The Coastal Carolinas Association of REALTORS puts the ZIP's median single-family price at $465,000 and its median condo price at $292,250 through August. Both are well under the limit, so you are in a conventional conforming loan on either side. A larger loan would be a jumbo loan, which I price by phone.

The county changes your tax bill, your school district and the offices you deal with. The Georgetown County millage sheet for 2025 puts the village's tax district, number 41, at 248.8 mills. A mill is one dollar of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value, so 248.8 mills is about 24.9 cents of tax on each dollar of assessed value. The sheet breaks it into the county's 71.6, solid-waste recycling collection at 3.2, the Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire District at 28.0, and the schools at 146.0. A home on the Horry side is billed from Horry County's own table, and the Horry County Treasurer and Assessor confirm the figures for an address there.

The county's property search shows the parcel, its tax district and its assessed value, and I read that with you before you write an offer.

Fannie Mae's definition of a second home, in plain words

Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, section B2-1.1-01, describes a second home for its purposes, and I go through it as we talk about the home you have in mind. In my words, it is a one-unit home that you use yourself for part of the year. It has to be livable all year, not only in the warm months, and it has to stay under your control. A home you rent as a business, a timeshare or a home where a management company decides who stays when does not qualify. A lender can see some rental income on a second home and still treat the loan as a second-home loan, as long as that income is not used to qualify you and the home still meets every other point.

Your file also goes through Desktop Underwriter, Fannie Mae's automated underwriting system, and I want it to come back with an Approve/Eligible recommendation, which is the system's finding that the file fits Fannie Mae's rules as submitted. Fannie Mae prices certain second-home loans with an added adjustment, so your rate options can differ from the ones you would see on the home you live in. Freddie Mac has its own guide, and I check it when it fits your file better.

Rental rules on this coast depend on the parcel, since unincorporated Georgetown and unincorporated Horry County each have their own zoning and licensing, and a homeowners' association can restrict rentals on top of that. I do not tell a client what a parcel allows. I ask the county's zoning staff about the specific address the week you write an offer, and I ask for the association's rental rules in writing. If your plan is to rent the home nightly, the second home versus investment property article explains how the loan changes.

Ten percent down and two months of reserves

On a one-unit second-home purchase, Fannie Mae's Eligibility Matrix allows a loan of up to 90% of the price or the appraised value, whichever is lower. That means at least 10% down. Your credit and Desktop Underwriter's findings can ask for more, so I run your actual scenario before you count on it. The table uses an invented price so you can swap in your own.

Illustration: invented $520,000 purchase
Price (invented)	$520,000
Largest loan at 90%	$468,000
Smallest down payment at 10%	$52,000

Reserves are the money still in your accounts after closing, counted in months of the full payment. Fannie Mae's guide on minimum reserves has Desktop Underwriter ask for two months on a second home, and for more when you own other financed properties. A gift from family can cover them, though when you put down less than 20%, Fannie Mae's gift rules ask for a 5% contribution from your own funds before a gift fills in the rest. So I put the down payment, the closing costs and the reserves on one sheet with you.

The payment I qualify you on counts more than principal and interest. The guide's section on monthly housing expense adds taxes, hazard and flood insurance, and association dues and assessments. Then the debt-to-income rules add that full payment to the housing payment on the home you live in, along with your car and card payments. Debt-to-income is that total divided by your monthly income before taxes.

Marsh and creek lots and flood insurance

Creek and marsh lots are part of what the village offers, and they are also what the insurance quote is about. WMBF reported that Hurricane Ian flooded the MarshWalk in 2022, and that most of the businesses were back open by the weekend after the storm. That says little about any single home, because a lot a street back from the marsh can be in a different flood zone from a lot on a creek.

FEMA's flood map gives each address a zone, and I look yours up before you write an offer, since a flood policy, if the home needs one, goes into the payment. Your insurance agent can tell you whether an elevation certificate would help. FEMA's Elevation Certificate records a building's flood zone and the height of its lowest floor against the flood height the map uses for your area, called the base flood elevation, which the agent uses to rate the policy. I could not confirm what share of the village is in each zone, so I do not print one.

A Georgetown County flood newsletter says the county moved to a class 7 rating in May 2017. That is FEMA's Community Rating System, a program that rewards communities for floodplain management. The newsletter says the new rating raised the county's discount on flood insurance rates to 15%. The county's class can change, so please have your agent confirm what applies today.

If the home has a dock or you plan to bring a boat, the inlet's dredging matters to you. On September 4, 2026, WMBF reported that the Army Corps of Engineers and the state were still surveying with no start date, and that Representative Lee Hewitt expected about three years of work once it begins. An appraisal values the home, so I would not count on a dredge to change a boat's access.

A condo, a townhome or a single-family home

The same report counted 548 single-family and 332 condo and townhome closings in the ZIP through August, so the project matters about as often as the lot. For a condo, Fannie Mae's Eligibility Matrix notes that the maximum loan-to-value, which is the loan as a share of the home's value, can be lower depending on the type of project review the lender performs. That review is about the building, and your own file is judged separately. My article on condo warrantability explains it in plain words. If a unit is in a rental program, I read the agreement with you, because a program that gives a management company control over your weeks fails the second-home test no matter how you plan to use the home.

The 6% assessment on a Georgetown County bill

South Carolina assesses a legal residence at 4% of its value, and only when the home is not rented for more than 72 days in a calendar year, under Title 12, Chapter 43 of the state code. A second home is assessed at 6%. The table runs the arithmetic on an invented value in the village's Georgetown tax district, using the 248.8 mills from the sheet above. A legal residence is also exempt from the 120.0 school operating mills under Section 12-37-220 of the state code, so the second line leaves them out.

Illustration: invented $520,000 value, District 41	Assessed value	Mills	Tax for the year
Second home, 6%	$31,200	248.8	about $7,763
Legal residence, 4%	$20,800	128.8	about $2,679

That leaves out water and sewer, homeowners' association dues and any county fees. It also shows why I do not use the seller's bill. If the seller lived there, the bill was written at 4%, and yours will not be. Georgetown County's reassessment page says the 15% limit on value increases does not hold once a property is sold, so the capped value on the seller's bill does not follow the home to you. I build your payment at 6% on your price. My article on the second-home tax bill in South Carolina works a full example, and the county assessor confirms what applies to a specific parcel.

Papers I would ask for on a Murrells Inlet home

1. When you are ready, please provide the property record for the home from the Georgetown County or Horry County website, all pages, so we can both see its county, tax district and assessed value.
2. Please provide a flood, homeowner's and wind quote from your insurance agent for the address, all pages, and an elevation certificate if the agent asks for one.
3. For a condo or a home in an association, please provide the budget, the reserve study, the recent board minutes, any special assessments, the master insurance policy and the rental rules, all pages.
4. Please provide any rental program or management agreement tied to the home, all pages.
5. Please provide your last two months of statements for every account that will pay the down payment and reserves, all pages, even if the last page is intentionally left blank.

Choosing a rate option for a Murrells Inlet second home

From there I run the payment with the home's county, its tax bill at 6% and its insurance in it, beside the payment on the home you live in. You'll see pricing for your scenario, choose a rate option, which you can change later, and the application opens from there. Getting pre-approved in South Carolina lists what I will ask you for. You are also welcome to call me and talk the home through first, whether you have an address or only a creek in mind.

Nothing on this page is a loan approval, a denial or a commitment to lend, and none of it is tax or insurance advice. Fannie Mae revises its guide and matrix, and your credit, the home, the project and the appraisal decide where a file lands under them. The county assessor sets the tax class on a specific parcel, and an insurance agent confirms the flood zone for a specific address.

Common questions

Can I buy a second home in Murrells Inlet with 10% down?

Yes, on a conventional loan when the home meets Fannie Mae's second-home rules. The Eligibility Matrix sets the maximum loan-to-value for a one-unit second-home purchase at 90 percent of the price or appraised value, which means at least 10 percent down. The file also has to come back from Desktop Underwriter with an Approve/Eligible recommendation, and a condo's project review can lower that maximum.

Is a Murrells Inlet address in Georgetown County or Horry County?

It can be either. The village is an unincorporated Georgetown County community, but ZIP 29576 reaches into Horry County, where Garden City is. The 2026 conforming loan limit for a one-unit home is the same in both counties, so the loan type is the same, while the tax bill and the offices you deal with differ. The county's property record for the parcel settles which side it is on.

Is property tax higher on a second home in Murrells Inlet?

Yes. South Carolina assesses a second home at 6 percent of its value and a legal residence at 4 percent, and the 4 percent rate ends if a home is rented more than 72 days in a calendar year. Georgetown County's 2025 sheet lists the village's tax district at 248.8 mills, and a second home also pays the school operating mills that a legal residence is exempt from.

Does a home on a marsh or creek in Murrells Inlet need flood insurance?

It depends on the FEMA flood zone for the address, which can differ between a creek lot and a lot a street back. If the home needs a flood policy, the premium is part of the payment I qualify you on. An insurance agent confirms the zone and the quote for a specific address, and may ask for an elevation certificate.

Does renting out my Murrells Inlet second home make it an investment property?

Not by itself. Fannie Mae's guide allows a second-home loan when rental income is identified, as long as that income is not used to qualify you. The home still has to meet every other second-home rule, including your own use and your control of it. A home run as a rental business, or one where a management company controls the calendar, is an investment property.

Will the inlet dredging change my boat access?

The dredging has no start date. On September 4, 2026, WMBF reported that the Army Corps of Engineers and the state were still surveying, with about three years of work expected once it begins. A lender values the home on its appraisal, so I would not count on the dredge when you plan a purchase around a boat.